Weeds in Greenhouses and Tobacco Fields Are Differentially Infected by Tomato spotted wilt virus and Infested by Its Vector Species

Abstract

A survey was conducted in the Macedonia region of Greece to determine the reservoir hosts of Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) in three tobacco fields and in a greenhouse complex in which lettuce and the ornamentals chrysanthemum, gerbera, aster, and anemone were grown. Assays for TSWV infection were made by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay on 6,172 plant samples, 3,909 from tobacco fields and 2,263 from the greenhouse complex, comprising plants of 208 species in 137 genera of 42 families. Plants of 86 species out of 63 genera of 27 families were infected of which 39 species are newly reported hosts of TSWV. An infection index was developed to evaluate the relative potential of each weed species as a virus source in both systems. Seventeen species in the tobacco fields and nine in the greenhouses had an infection index higher than one. Most species with infected plants were found in the Compositae family. Plants of some species occurring both in tobacco fields and in greenhouses were infected at only one of these sites. Frankliniella occidentalis was the common thrips species on weeds and crops in the greenhouses, while Thrips tabaci was the only vector on tobacco plants and weeds in the tobacco fields. This observation strongly suggests that the occurrence of species with infected plants and their number have to be attributed to the vector species prevailing in the greenhouse complex or tobacco fields, supporting the conclusion that TSWV is spread in two different epidemiological processes in Greece.